Torches
by Pinky Lillix
Summary: Explosions, soup, anonymous enemies, doom walls, shipwrecks, and a whole lotta headaches. . . sequel to Blindfolded ZATR DibOC CHAPTER 6 IS UP AFTER A 3-YEAR ABSENCE. AW YEAH.
1. Soup is nice

**A.N.** The long-awaited sequel to "Blindfolded" has arrived! Sorry for the long wait everyone, but thanks for the feedback in the last story. Everyone's comments on that last chapter is what convinced me to finally post this, because I'd given up on "Torches".

But then I finally re-wrote, and it is so friggen different then I told you guys it would be.

And, although I prefer "Blindfolded" over this _alot_, I still hope you guys enjoy this.

And I introduce only _two_ more characters in this, as opposed to my original concept with nine new characters. . . yeah. . . just read. . .

**Chapter One- Soup is nice**

_Zim waved his arms frantically and then shouted, "Wait My Tallest! Don't cut the transmission yet!" _

He began to hop up and down desperately.

"Zim," Tallest Red said impatiently on the screen, "do you remember our little agreement?"

"Yes, yes, 'Never-ever-ever-talk-to-you-again-for-the-rest-of-my-life-or-I'll-suffer-the-most-horrible-physical-pain-imaginable', I know_, but this is _really_ important!" _

"It better be," Tallest Purple said from beside Red, crossing his arms.

"Oh, but it is!" and then there was a long silence, as Zim just stared blankly into the screen.

"Well?" Red asked expectantly about a minute later.

". . .'well', what?"

"What do you have to tell us that's so important?"

"Oh. . . eh. . . I dunno. . ." but the second he noted his leaders' frustration, he added quickly, "Wait! Okay! I just remembere!. . . eh. .. my work at Irk's military training facility is going excruciatingly _well! Oh, you would not _believe_ how well my work is-" _

"Zim, we have people who get paid to give us reports on these kind of things. I'm cutting the transmission now-"

"No! I still have so much more to tell you! Uh-uh! Did I tell you I'm growing a mooshminky tree in my backyard!"

"Wow, really-" but then Red stopped, coming to his senses. He shook his head and said, "We have things to take care of, Zim. So thanks for the whole 'ending-the-Meekrob-war' thing, but we really don't have time for this."

"Yeah!" Purple chimed in. "And we don't have to pretend to care about you anymore. . . because we don't!"

"But-"

"Have a nice life," Red said, and with that, the transmission was cut.

* * *

Tak steps out from her sleeping quarters, then glances down the hall suspiciously. It's too quiet, she decides.

Great. Everyone's probably dead.

Thinking it be best to inspect the source of her family's possible murder, she walks to the kitchen, but on the way there, someone suddenly grabs her by her arm and pulls her into the room closest to them.

And then she realizes that her family's not really dead; or at least Zim isn't anyway.

"What do you want?" Tak asks him exasperatedly, and then he grins.

And doesn't really respond, until Tak realeases an annoyed growl, and then he says,"Carnival."

"Um."

"Irk's annual _snacking_ carnival! Where there will indeed be snacking! And _soup!"_

"Wouldn't that go with the snacking?"

"Foolish Tak! Soup stands alone!"

"Okay, you know what?" Tak says. "You're annoying me. I'm going to go eat breakfast."

She turns to the doorm but then Zim grabs her wrist and tugs her back and then she looks ready to hurt him.

"_What?_" she demands.

"Do you wish to accompany ZIM to this carnival of _soup_?"

Tak rolls her eyes.

"Whatever," she says. "You didn't have to drag me in here to ask me that though."

"I don't want. . . you know. . ._them_. . .coming along. . ." Zim eyes dart back and forth in a paranoid fashion, and then Tak raises an invisible eyebrow , crossing her arms.

"Our _children_. . .?" she asks slowly, then looks around, " where are they anyway?"

"Clox is in the kitchen. . . Pin is too. . .and so are the twins. . .yup. . . . they're all in there. . ."

"And they're being _quiet_?"

ZIm shrugs, and then just watches Tak rush from the room in concern. He decides to follow her, after staring at the wall for another ten seconds. Oh, what an exciting life he has.

When he enters the kitchen, the first thing he hears is Clox stutter, "W-we're gonna die. . ."

"Cut it out," Tak says. She's beside her son, who's standing on his stool, holding a pot over the stove. He looks to it sadly.

And then Pin speaks up, in reassuring tone, "It's okay Clox. If they're gonna blow up anyone, it won't be us. Unless they dun like us. . . then they prob'ly will. . . but not if they're in a good mood!"

"I doubt you're providing much consolation, Pin. . . " says Plix, one of the smeets, softly. He's staring at the table surface and he sighs.

Beside him, his twin sister, JooJee, nods. Then she looks to Zim, and says in an energetic (somewhat cheerful) voice, "DADDY! We gonna 'splode up!" and follows up with a slightly psychotic cackle. Whereas her siblings just glance at her grimly.

"JooJee, s-sploding, uh. . . i-it's _bad_. . .you dun want it t-to happen," Clox explains to her seriously, but she doesn't seem to care much.

Zim just looks to Tak in confusion, and then she pulls him aside and explains in a low voice, "There was just a broadcast-" she points to the screen hanging on the wall opposite of them, "that several Irken bases were attacked recently, and now the kids are thoroughly convinced _we're_ the next victims."

"Who attacked us?" Zim demands, not bothering to keep a quiet tone, that is until Tak glares, and then he repeats the question, only softer.

"I'm not sure. . ." for a second, she looks anxious. "It wasn't even _on_ Irk. I turned off the broadcast because Clox was getting upset, but I'm sure we can find out more at work-" then she lifts her head and her eyes bug out slightly. "Dammit! _Work!_ What time is it!"

And then Zim looks kinda freaked out too, and he frantically points to the kitchen clock, then actaully turns to face it.

"We're late!" he exclaims in a panic.

"Not yet," Tak says, "but we still need to hurry. . . or we leave now, then get off early to go to the carn-. . ." she and Zim both glance to the kids, who are sitting at the table, watching them intently. So Tak continues, in a voice that's louder then necessary, "_In time for that really. . . boring. . . _thing. . . uh, you know, where we sit around. . . and. . . uh. . ."

"Stare at walls of _doom_!" Zim finishes passionately, shaking his fist in the air.

"I like doom," JooJee says with a twisted grin.

Tak rolls her eyes.

"Well, doom _walls_ are boring," she tells her, "you'd hate it."

"I WANNA GO!" JooJee shrieks, jumping on the table. "IT IS SO DEMANDED BY ME!"

"Hey, watch it-"

"JOOJEE!" Zim intercepts angrialy."You will show us respect! We CREATED YOU!"

Before his daughter has a chance to respond however, everyone hears a high-pitched, familiar voice exclaim, "_CAAAARNAY-VULL!"_, and then Zim is on the ground, and Gir is on his stomach, dancing insanely.

Zim says, "Oof," but then he's pretty much knocked out besides that.

Gir starts to chant, "Carnival! Carnival! Carnival!" and so on, and then Pin and Clox instantly become animated. Even Plix looks a little less downhearted.

"Ooo! I wanna got to the carnival!" Pin announces with a huge smile.

"Y-yeah!" Clox says with equal enthusiasm. "I-I-I heard that the- that the Annual Snacking festival is today!"

"Yeah Mom! Can we _go? Pleeease!_"

And then Plix, who takes note of his mother's defeated, irritated expression, says, "At this point I'm presuming your intent was to _prevent_ us from requesting you to provide transportation and accompaniment to this carnival, but nonetheless, I must say I'd enjoy partaking in the festive experience myself."

He smiles, and Tak just stares and blinks.

"Plix. . . " she says slowly, shaking her head, "what did I tell you about using bug words around me. . .?"  
His smile falls instantly, and he then says in a flat, miserable tone, "Can we go to da carnival pweese?"

Tak looks from him, to Pin and Clox, whose eyes are wide with hope, to JooJee, who's scowling for whatever reason, then to Gir, who's still dancing on Zim's stomach.

She sighs.

"Okay," she says.

The kids cheer (except JooJee, who mutters, "I wanted to see the doom wall. . . "), and they rush over and hug Tak. She pats them all on the head.

"But first," she says, stealing a quick glance at Zim, and suddenly grinning devilishly, "go wake Daddy up."

They all jump him.

* * *

Five years ago, all Dib really cared about was aiding any race against the Irken empire, and making sure Zim's annoying stupidity didn't get too out of hand.

But then his connection with the Meekrob was abruptly put to an end, and Zim just left, right after that.

At first, Dib thought it was a trick; like maybe one day, he'd walk into Bloaty's Pizza Hog, and Zim would randomly pop out at him with a doomcanon and make some ridiculous threat against him and mankind. But that never happened.

And then Dib started officially dating his friend Kacer, and then he had college to worry about- and it's not that he forgot about Zim.

It's just he has other things on his mind now. Zim's gone. He's dealing with it. He has other, less obnoxious, less threatening, rivals.

True, it's slightly boring, but at least the Earth's not in jeopardy.

So, that's good.

He's in his dorm room now, and the phone rings. Thinking it's Kacer, he picks it up right away, only his assumption was wrong, and once he hears the voice on the other end of the line, he almost drops the phone in disbelief.

"Dad. . .?" he says incredulously.

"True son!" Professor Membrane answers. "It is I, your father!"

"You're actually. . . you're _actually_ calling _me_? Do you even have _time_ for this? Or did you schedule this a year in advance or whatever?"

"Why, not at all! This call was ENTIRELY RANDOM, so as to fill you with _unsuspecting_ JOY!"

"Um. . . yeah, Dad. . . is there anything you need. . .? Because I don't think you've ever called me before, and it's kinda scary. . ."

A moment of silence passes. And then,

"How is CRAZY SCHOOL going for you, son!"

"It's not '_crazy school'_!" Dib snaps defensively. "Spooky Studies Institution is a _prestigious_ paranormal-investigating university!"

"Hahaha, of course it is, of course it is. . ."

"_What do you want Dad?"_

". . .how is your equally crazy girlfriend?"

"_Dad!"_

"Alright," Membrane says. "As you know, I am a world-famous SCIENTIST and as a world-famous SCIENTIST, there are times when I am invited to SCIENTIFIC CONVENTIONS!"

"Um. . . yeah. . . "

"And there are some cases when I am allowed to bring a guest TO these conventions."

"Dad," Dib says apologetically, "I can't go. Finals are coming up."

"Oh, NO MATTER! I wasn't going to invite you!"

"Then why would-"

"It's your _sister_, you see. She's refusing to come, but I think it would be best for her! I need you to convince her to listen to me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"

"But Gaz hates me, why should I-"

"PERFECT! Tell me how it all works out!"

_Dial tone_. Dib stares at the phone in confusion, then sets it down.

An second later, it rings again, and he snatches it up and shouts, "_What do you want!" _only on the other end, all he hears is this weird kinda whimper and so he sighs and says, "Oh, sorry Kacer. . . I thought you were someone else."

"Um, it's okay. . ." Kacer says softly. "You thought it was your dad, right?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Well, he just called me."

"_What?_"

"Yeah, he asked me to. . . ya know, convince Gaz about that convention thingy. . ."

"Okay, that's just too weird. . ."

"I know." Kacer sighs. "Anyway, er. . . I called Gaz. . ."

"Yeah. . ."

"Only. . . she hung up on me. . . so I was wondering. . . if you'd like to come with me to go visit her."

"Kacer, we have _finals_, remember?"

"Just on the weekend! It won't take long! Um. . . please?"

After about a minute, Dib sighs, then agrees with a reluctant, "Fine. . ."

"Okay! Really? Alright! Great! Uh. . . well, I gotta go!"

"Hey, what's the convention even for anyway?"

"Er. . .um. . .it's for. . . OH MY GOD, A NINJA JUST BROKE INTO MY DORM ROOM AND STOLE MY PHONE, I GOTTA GO, LOVE YA, BYE!"

She hangs up.

Dib doesn't even bother to question himself what Kacer's problem is.

He just mutters, "Whatever. . ." and flops on his bed.

**end of chapter one**

Well, I've never written for Professor Membrane before, so I hope it didn't horribly suck.

Plix rocks my piggy socks, baby.

Reviews are welcomed. Encouraged. Pweese?


	2. What makes the minky in the moosh

**A.N. **Thanks for reviewing you beautiful people, you!

**o0whitelily0o** (work on the GAPR fic!!! I so demand it!!!)

**Deepening **(Kayari-chan! X3 Thanks, Plix loves you too)

**TikTac** (XD I love flattery! Thanks so much)

**Suicidal RuBBerDuckie** (_OH_ yeah. And in the original thing, Clox was 18, Kacer and Dib had a kid, and there were _space_ pirates, who were very awesome, but it got too hectic)

**Zantor7** (whoo! Computer-ness!)

_the ever-wonderful_ **MasterFruitCake** (thanks, I'm glad I was able to get him right)

**DemonSurfer** (insanity is good, haha XP)

**Rahh Gumba Foo** (I don't _hate_ it, I just find "Blindfolded" to be superior, I guess cause it was written at the peek of my Zim-obsession)

**TripleS-18** (I LOVE YOU TOO!! X3)

**Captain Blue-Hat Jack** (Yeah, that pm had me laughing, I'm sorry XP. PotC2 was okay. Nothing beats the first one though) **Shelbie** (millions of smeets! . . . just kidding. She's done with the kid thing)

**Missy Lynne** (I had to edit this, I forgot to list your name! Forgive me, love! -weeps-)

**Chapter two- What makes the Minky in the Moosh**

"This course will teach you both _stealth _and _agility_ and how to balance a rubber piggy on your head while dodging deadly lasers!" Zim says, pacing back and forth in front of the line of trainee soliders. "You WILL be timed, and most likely be in _pain_!"

"Um sir," one of the taller sliders says unsurely, with his arm raised in the air, "will you be assisting us in case we. . . you know. . .die?"

Zim stops and chuckles. He replies light-heartedly, "Of _course_ not, you pitiful fool. I will be watching you from the safety of the observation room. Now-" he points to Tak, who's standing beside a large tube ejecting from the wall, "RETRIEVE YOUR PIGGY FROM TAK!"

So, one by one, the trainees line up, and Tak hands each of them a piggy that comes out from the wall tube. Once the last one's been given out, Tak and Zim rush to the door to the Observation room. Zim stops right before it, and punches a button beside him.

Once he does, the obstacle course begins, and lasers start randomly shooting at the soliders, causing some to fumble and lose balance, and a few even drop their piggys.

Zim and Tak watch them through the window and cackle at their expense for a few minutes, until they get bored of it. Then they kinda just sit in silence, until one of their fellow trainer drones enters, slurping a mud slush shake. He jerks his head upward as a form of greeting them, then sits beside Tak. After a minute, he says, "So. . . you guys hear about the attacks on the Irken bases?"

The couple's antennas both perk up, and Tak responds, "Yeah. . . we haven't heard much about it though."

"Well," the drone says, "you know who launched the attack, right?"

"Not really."

"Me neither."

"Do you know where the attack _was_?"

"Splorkia. Hardly know anything else. No one does really. Just that alot of soliders were killed."

"Then why would you ask us if we know who did it?"

The drone shrugs, and says, "Just wondering. . . rumors have it that the next attack will be at the snacking carnival. . ."

"How would they _know_?" Tak asks.

The drone shrugs again, then takes another long, loud slurp from his mud slush shake, and exits the room.

Tak looks to Zim, but before she can even open her mouth, he says, "We're going."

"What?"

"WE'RE _are_ going to the snacking carnival."

"I know."

"Even if head smellies try to blow us up."

"Okay."

"I wanna eat."

"Me too."

"Okay."

"Alright."

"Fine."

There's a short pause, and then Tak says, "You're a dork."

Zim kinda gives an irritated jerk of the head, but before he can retaliate, Tak just laughs. And even though it's most likely directed _at_ him, he decides not to get all worked up for once.

He just says, "And you smell funny."

Tak smirks, then sticks out her tongue.

"I happen to like my funny smell."

"And I happen to like being a so-called 'dork'."

"What about being an obnoxious, egotistical idiot?"

"Why, of cour- Hey!"

Tak laughs again, but then stops once she observes through the window one of the soliders in the course catching on fire.

She sighs, exasperated, and stands up.

"I'll go get the fire extinguisher. . ."

* * *

_"Welcome to Irk's one and only Foundational Education plant for natural-born smeets!" an anonymous voice rang overhead as Zim led his daughter into the building._

_Pin surveryed her surroundings anxiously and pulled closer to her father. They walked to a desk where there was a large computer, and beside it was a taller-than-average female Irken._

_"I am here to enroll my DAUGHTER!" Zim pronounced grandly._

_The female smiled at them and said, "Just let the computer download her PAK data, and she'll immediately be transported to her classroom!"_

_So Zim typed into the computer, and then a tube ejected from its side, and attached itself to Pin's PAK. A moment later, the same anonymous voice they had heard at the entrance announced, "Data accepted. Welcome Pin."_

_Pin and Zim then exchanged sweet, relieved smiles, and Zim gave his daughter a thumbs-up._

_Then the tube sucked Pin up into the computer and on the way she gave a bloodcurtling shriek._

_"PIN!!" Zim shouted in alarm, making an attempt to rush to his daughter's aid, but was cut off by the female Irken._

_"Don't worry," she said, "she is merely being transported to her classroom."_

_"DADDY!!" Pin shrieked from inside the computer. "HELP ME!! HELP- OH MY IRK, WHAT IS THAT- AHHHHH!!"_

_Zim didn't waste another second; he whipped a laser shooter out from his PAK and blew computer up._

_As the debris of the data processor fell around them, and as Zim rushed to Pin's side with medical aid handy in his PAK, the female educational drone spat resentfully under her breath, "Great. . . now until we get that fixed, we have to switch back to the conveyor belt. . ."_

* * *

When Kacer gets in the car, she looks anxious, a little jumpy, but Dib doesn't pay much attention. He figures if he says anything, she'll have a spaz atatck, so they're quiet for most of the carride.

Until finally, when they enter their old neighborhood, Kacer's shoulders appear less tense, and she kinda grins unsurely.

"So," Dib says, looking ahead, "did you ever get rid of those ninjas?"

She jumps and sqieaks, "Urp," but recovers and says, "Er, yeah, only they, uh. . . got away with my phone. . ."

"So no more late-night calls?"

"Well, I bought a _new_ phone, see? So. . ."

"Okay then."

Kacer relaxes again.

But then the car makes a sharp turn towards the curb, and comes to an abrupt stop.

"Um Dib, this isn't Gaz's house. . ."

He just leans in _really close_ and says in a low voice, "_What's going on?_"

"We're going to see your sister-"

"_No._" He's less then an inch away, and Kacer tries to back up, but she just hits her head against the car door."I want the truth."

Kacer giggles nervously and says, "What do you mean?"

"Dad would never take the time to call me, let alone beg both _you_ and _me_ to convince Gaz, who _hates_ us, to come to one of his conventions, which she wouldn't refuse in the first place. That's what I mean."

She can't respond. Apparerently desperate not to give an answer, she just pushes the car door open, and screams, "RAPIST!!" which causes quite a few people on the street to turn their heads.

Kacer attempts to jump from the car, but unfortunately for her, her seatbelt remains buckled, so she ends up falling back into her seat. Din grabs her arm and yanks her close to him, and he starts to demand, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" but then crowd has gathered around the car.

A rather large man steps forward then leans in, and says, "Hey buddy. You causin' trouble for this young lady?"

"W-wha-?" Dib sputters, instantly releasing Kacer from his grasp. "No! S-she's my girlfriend, I was just-"

"TAKING ADAVANTAGE OF ME!!" Kacer shrieks. "Now lemme outta here!"

She unbuckles quickly, then pushes past the large, scary guy. And then makes a run for it.

"KACER!!" Dib calls desperately. "COME BACK!"

He, too, unbuckles, however he's unable to get past the scary guy. He and several others advance threateningly on Dib.

And all he can do is brace himself for the upcoming pain.

Poor him.

* * *

"A-authentic mooshminky!" Clox exclaims, yanking Tak by the hand to one of the many, many food stands.

The whole family's here; Pin, who has Plix mounted on her back, follows her mom and brother, along with Mimi and Minimoose.

Zim, Gir, and JooJee slipped off together some time ago, last seen at a soup stand. Tak decided to let them dwell in their happiness for once and let them be.

There are Irken _everywhere_, so it's kinda hard to get through, but eventually they get to the right line.

Clox activates his spider legs so he can actually reach the counter, and says with his typical fanged grin, "O-one mooshminky p-please!"

The Irken at the stand hands him one, and Clox does not hesitate to taste it. The second he does however, it appears as though he wishes he hadn't.

With a grimace, he asks, "D-did you deep-deep fry this. . .?"

The Irken shrugs.

"I dunno," he says, "I just put it in the heaty thingy. . ."

"W-was this e-even, uh. . . saturated in-in butter first?"

"Um, no."

"Cause-cause _that's_ w-what makes the minky in the moosh! E-every chef knows that!"

"I didn't make these things, I'm just selling them."

"W-well, don't you-don't you think you sh-should be selling food that's-th-that's actually _w-worth_ eating?"

"Lusten you little twerp-"

"Mom," Pin says, tapping Tak on the arm, "Can me and Plix go to the explodey pie show?"

"Go ahead, just don't get lost," Tak replies, and once Pin and Plix, accompanied with Minimoose, have dissapeared from view, she turns back to observe Clox's argument with the mooshminky guy, which has gotten pretty out-of-hand in the past two seconds.

Clox is standing on the counter, forcefully shoving his mooshminky into the Irken's mouth, shouting, "You try eatin' this crap!"

Tak kinda snickers in amusement, but then stops once she realizes Clox might actually get in trouble for this, so she grabs him by the waist and is able to pull him away.

She looks to the mooshminky guy in apology, but then notes his sorry state, and just snickers again.

She takes her son and robot and walks away.

"Clox, you really shouldn't forcefeed anyone bad mooshminky," she tells him, only she doesn't really look that serious about it.

"But-but it _sucked_!"

Tak pats him on the head in understanding then says, "We should probably find Zim and-"

She pauses then looks ahead then smirks she points forward, then motions to Clox to keep quiet. He looks ahead as well, and grins and nods.

They slowly advance forward, and then Tak leans down to Mimi and suddenly orders, "MIMI!! ATTACK!!"

A few yards away, Zim, in the middle of chugging down some very hot soup, whips around just in time to face Mimi in her offensive mode.

She jumps in the air, all cool and action-like, her eyes glowing red, and she knocks Zim to the ground. He, at first, looks both terrified and caught off guard, but then he just appears as though he's preoccupied with the fact that he's choking on his soup. He flails his arms around, and pushes Mimi away forcefully.

This doesn't particularly please her, and she jumps in the air, only she'd caught midway by Tak who says, "You can stop now." She looks down to her husband, who's still choking. "Geez Zim, are you okay?"

He doesn't answer. He just keeps waving his arms frantically.

Gir suddenly pushes his way through the crowd, with JooJee close behind.

He shrieks insanely, "It was _ME_ who stuffed da body under da floorboards!" and he jumps on Zim's stomach.

Once he does, Zim coughs on his soup, and he sits up, gasping for breath. Tak leans down and pats his back to help with his coughing.

Once he recovers slightly, he demands in a raspy voice, "What is _wrong_ with you?!"

"What the hell, Zim-"

"You sent your stupid robot to attack me!"

"Oh, it was a joke, get over it. . "

"_TAK-_"

Everything comes to an immediate stop.

Before they can even hear anything, they know something's wrong, and then the ground rumbles and Tak falls into Zim, and suddenly, that's when they realize they _did_ hear something. An explosion.

"What da hell was dat?" comes JooJee's voice from beside them, but she doesn't get an answer.

Tak's staring ahead, and there's a huge, dark cloud of debri coming toward them, along with paniced Irkens, running away from it and screaming,

"_Zim_!" Tak shouts over the chaos. "Isn't that coming from the direction of the explodey pie show?!"

"Are the PIES responsible for this?!" Zim shouts back, his eyes bugging out in alarm.

Tak doesn't answer; she's racing toward the explosion.

"TAK!!" Zim shrieks. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF IRK ARE YOU DOING?!"

She stops and she looks desperate.

"Get Clox and JooJee _out_ of here!" she hollers. "_NOW!_ I have to get Pin and Plix!"

She starts running again.

Zim looks from his children to the smoke, and in a quick second, makes a decision.

"GIR! MIMI! Take Clox and JooJee away! Where there isn't smoke or doom! Understand?!"

"I like doom!" JooJee announces cheerfully, clearly oblivious to their current crisis.

Zim ignores her and shouts, "GIR! Listen to me for once!"

The android's eyes flash red and he salutes.

With that, Zim turns sharply and follows after Tak, into smoke that's so thick, he can't even see anymore. All he hears is the roaring wind around him, and in the last second, just one more explosion.

And then he's lost.

**End of Chapter two. . .**

Weeeell, next chapter doth not have a title yet. But let's see what's in store, shall we, my dearies?. . . the next chapter will contain:

- Dib getting mad!!

- Clox contemplating on the events of next chapter

- something all you Minimoose fans will hate me for

Yeeeah. . . kinda rushed into serious/drama crud kinda quick, but uh. . . I dun wanna drag this out.

And Plix did not speak in this chapter, which is a shame. But next chapter he does. And in chapter four, he. . .well, I can't tell you, but it's funny. I like how JooJee swears, and she's only a smeet. I find it _really_ funny, cause I'm demented. Like with the flashback. I was cracking up the whole time, cause I make myself laugh, and no one else thinks I'm funny. And that in itself is hilarious. I RAMBLE!!

Anyways, I'm soooo glad you guys reviewed, it really got me all less like, "eh", about typing it up. When I got feedback I want from that to more of an, "_Ehhh_. . . okay". So. . . yeah. Please review! Much love to you all!


	3. The third chapter

**A.N.** Thanks to my beautiful reviewers:

**Captain Blue-Hat Jack **

**Zantor7**

**Missy Lynne** (heh heh, the ZATR is irresitible!)

**greenjellohead** (whoo-hoo!)

**MasterFruitCake** (you should feel special XP)

**Suicidal RuBBerDucky** (mooshminky was mentioned in some IZ episode, can't remember which. . . can't really tell ya what it is though. . .)

**TripleS-18**

**DemonSurfer**

**Rahh Gumba Foo** (XD I love Napolean Dynamite!)

**TikTac**

The flashback was written all last-minute like. So it sucks. Badly. Really. Really. Badly. In fact, just skip over it. It'll be a waste of your time. . .

**Chapter three- The Third Chapter**

Gaz snickers.

She just opened her front door, and Dib is standing there, covered in cuts and bruises. His hair's messed up, his clothes are torn, and his glasses are broken.

He looks pissed, and to Gaz, it's funny.

"WHERE'S KACER?!" he demands.

Gaz steps aside and points to her couch with an amused smirk, and Kacer's sitting there, sipping a mug of coffee. She looks up and smiles warmly.

"Oh, hi Dib-"

"THANKS TO YOU, I'M NOW KNOWN AS THE TOWN RAPIST!!"

"Who did you rape?" Gaz asks. She sounds delighted.

"NO ONE!!" Dib hollers, fuming, clenching his fists. "KACER JUST DECIDED IT'D BE A FREAKING SWELL IDEA TO TELL EVERYONE I-"

"_Oh!_" Kacer says, her eyes wide. "_About that!_ Dib, uh-"

"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"I paniced!"

"So you told everyone I was a _rapist_?!"

"Well, _yeah_, but there's a reason for it-"

"NO! YOU'RE CRAZY! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR- _OW!_"

Dib falls forward, and it suddenly registers to him that Gaz just smacked him upside the head. Against one of his bruises, no less. He looks to his sister, wincing.

All she says is, "Your voice is annoying."

So he shuts up and turns to Kacer, rubbing his head.

"Okay," Kacer says, suddenly seeming desperate to explain herself before her boyfriend proceeds in freaking out, "so I was throwing this surprise party for your birthday and I asked your family to help out to make an excuse for you to come here, cause I have no other place to throw it, but then I realized I'm _horrible_ at keeping secrets, so when you asked about it, I freaked out and ran here, only afterwards, I decided to throw you a _regular_ party instead."

Dib blinks.

After about a moment's silence, he says, "My birthday's not for another three months."

"Oh."

"I'm leaving."

"_But-!_"

"_Now._ If you want a ride back, you better come with me."

He turns around and his hand almost reaches the doorknob, but then Kacer grabs his shoulder and pulls him back.

"You _can't go!"_she protests."I already _invited_ people!"

"I don't care-"

"But your dad's coming!"

Dib stops. He shrugs Kacer's hand away, but he also turns from the door.

"You are insane," he says. "You know that, right?"

Kacer smiles and nods.

"Okay. . . I'll stay. But there better be cake."

She squeals happily, throws her arms around his neck and kisses him.

Gaz looks utterly disgusted and takes a random bucket of water from her kitchen and dumps it over their heads. The now-soaked couple looks up in shock.

"If you _ever_ do that in front of me again," Gaz growls, "I'll replace the water with acid."

She stomps away.

Dib just looks to Kacer, and they both shrug.

* * *

A light's shining in his eyes, and he feels uncomfortably warm. A blurry image of someone is hovering over him, but once things come into focus, he doesn't recognize her. She's an Irken and a nurse, judging by her uniform. And unfamiliar.

Whoever she is, she's saying _something_ to someone, but it's difficult to make out. And in the next instant, someone pushes her out of the way (slamming her into the wall) and then they're clinging to him.

It's Tak.

When she speaks, it's muffled, but at least he can hear it.

"Zim, you scared the hell out of me!"

He blinks. He doesn't really answer, he just surveys his surroundings, and is surprised to discover he's not in a hospital, as he had suspected.

Just in a large tent. Lying on a stiff mat. Several others appear to be in the same condition. He doesn't know what's going on, and now his head is pounding, and he remembers the explosion.

"Where's Pin and Plix?!" he demands.

". . . dead. . ."

"Wha-. . ." Zim stares in disbelief, and then he looks as if he's about to cry. Or hurt someone. "How. . . how is that. . . no. . ."

"Just kidding," Tak says, completely stoic, "they're right outside the tent."

"_That wasn't funny_."

Tak shrugs.

"I guess not," she says. She sounds emotionless. A moment passes when they just look to each other. "Are you okay?"

"I demand to know what happened."

Tak sighs, then begins her explanation.

"The explosion was a deliberate attack on Irk," she says, "with an untraceable source, as the ones prior to it. . . it activated Minimoose's Doomsday device, but apparently. . .well. . .Minimoose blew up. . . dead."

"I _said_ that wasn't funny."

"I'm _not_ kidding about this."

Zim waits for her to smirk or make fun of him for believing her or _something_, but she actually looks. . .regretful. . .? He can't be sure.

"What about Gir?" he asks, almost reluctantly.

"He's fine, everyone else is fine. . . well, at first we were hurt, but our PAKs provided a quick recovery. Yours, however, was damaged, so you had to be placed in here, and now you're probably even _more_ defective. . ."

Zim glares, and mutters defiantly, "_I'm _not_ defective. . ._" then asks a moment later, "How long have I been unconcious. . .?"

"Mmm. . .about a week. . ."

"_WHAAAT?!_" Zim hops up from the mat, despite the fact that his leg's in immense pain (which he hadn't noticed until just now), and kinda attempts to run towards the entrance of the tent, but Tak taps his forehead, he loses balance and falls back.

"Are you _stupid_?" she asks over him, hands on hips.

"A_ WEEK_!" Zim shouts, hysterical. "A week of my life completely wasted! I MUST get out of here at _once! _Think of all I've missed! The Tallest will think I've been slacking off of work!"

Tak stares at him, expressionless. And then she looks sad.

Wordlessly, she takes Zim's arm, and pulls it around her shoulder, so she's supporting him. She leads him to the entrance, then stops.

"You're going to see something," she says, not looking at him, "that I don't think you'll like very much . . ."

He's anxious, almost _afraid_ to step outside all of a sudden, but then he's telling himself that's just stupid, so he allows Tak to pull back the flap of the tent, and then he feels like he's going to be sick.

He realizes now that there's not going to _be_ work for him anymore. There's not even going to be a home. Because stepping out now, there's so much debris and dust, but nothing else.

Everything else is gone.

* * *

_"Ladies and Gentlemen and robots and stuff," Pin said into her self-made microphone, "I bring for your entertainment. . . 'Pin and Needles'!. . .it's a band, so we're gonna play songs. . . okay?"_

_Tak, Zim and Mimi just stared from the couch, each nodding slightly. The living room had been altered into some makeshift concert. Bedsheets were hanging from the ceiling wires to provide curtains, random glowsticks were placed around the room, and in the middles of it was Pin's "band". Pin as the vocals, Gir on drums (two empty Irken coffee cans), Clox on guitar (rubberbands stretched over a piece of cardboard), and Minimoose just kinda floated above them, looking cute, ready to squeak at the appropriate moment._

_So, with that, Pin turned to her brother, nodded, and the concert began. . . _

_For a second, Tak and Zim looked to each other and grinned. Pin definately wasn't a _bad_ singer. Yes, the whole scene was pretty cute. . . that is, until Gir, who was rocking out perhaps a little _too _hard on his "drums", went completely nuts and began shrieking at the top of his lungs. Before anyone could stop him, he lifted the coffee cans and thrusted them at Zim's head._

_Tak started laughing, until she realized he wasn't moving._

_"YOU STUPID ROBOT!!" she shouted. "YOU KILLED ZIM!!"_

_"Daddy's dead?!" Pin said in alarm, dropping her microphone and rushing to her mother's side, tears instantly welling up in her pink eyes. _

_"Get up," Tak muttered, lifting Zim's head, "Come on sweetie. . ."_

_"W-wow," Clox said, joining his family, "y-you-you _never_ call Dad 'sweetie'."_

_"Yeah," Pin said, "that _is_ kinda weird."_

_"Y-you usually call him. . . uh. . ."_

_"'Zim!'"_

_"Yeah! Or 'Jackass'!"_

_They began to laugh, and then Tak turned on them, her eyes flashing._

_"Shut up!" she snapped. "He might seriously be-"_

_"Tak?" It was Zim. _

_"Good, you're awake."_

_"You never call me 'sweetie'."_

_"That was a one-time thing, okay-?"_

_Before Zim could respond, Gir ran over, began dancing on Tak's head, which somehow knocked her out._

_"GIR!! YOU KILLED TAK!!"_

_"I HAVE MAGICAL POWERS!!"_

_"NO, YOU DON'T!!. . .GET OFF OF HER CORPSE AT ONCE!!"_

_Pin and Clox, having lost interest in the recent deaths of their parents, made their way to the kitchen in search of a snack. Minimoose hovered after them, squeaking cutely._

* * *

"WHOO!! Lookitdat!" Gir presses his face against the window, and then his eyes begin to widen. "MAGICAL candies! I want one!"

"Aw," Pin says, standing beside him, "that's no candy, that's just a planet. . ."

"A _glowy_ planet," JooJee says. She pushes between the two and kicks Pin's head with her tiny foot. ". . .hey Plix! How come _Irkens_ can't be all glowy like that?! Huh? Huh? _Huh?_"

Plix, who's sitting on mother's lap, recording something onto his digital notepad, looks up and sighs.

"First off," he starts,"the illumination of that planet is merely the reflection of the light of this solar system's center star. Secondly, it would be physically impossible for an Irken to glow, due to the fact that our genes don't provide the option for such a quality, unless of course there is a mutation of sorts, but it's highly improbable-"

"_Oh my Irk!_" JooJee interrupts, her eyes wide."One time I sawed-ed this thingy on the screeny television and there were these _mutating_ _splorkian babies _that were all _jiggly_-lookin' and they started poppin' up in people's freezy boxes and they were all like, 'Rawr!' and stuff! It was so weird! Hey Plix, why can't Irkens be all jiggly-lookin'?!"

". . .don't talk to me."

Plix returns to his notepad, despite the list of rather vulgar insults his twin begins hurling at him. Tak shoots JooJee one death glare however, and she amazingly shuts up.

Clox had been leaning against Mimi previously, quietly observing the ongoing stupidity, but now he's standing up and looking to his father. The voot cruiser's small and compact, yet Zim has somehow been able to distance himself from his family, and he seems out of it. But looking at him, Clox just thinks he's in deep thought. Or maybe he's trying _not_ to be in deep thought. He may be six, but even Clox knows that these past few days haven't exactly been the most pleasant thing to have on one's minds (unlike JooJee, who will bring up the recent turmoil with a certain fondness in her voice).

After the explosion, Clox suddenly didn't have a house anymore. His mom's ship was destroyed, and he recalls the little fit Tak had thrown when she had discovered Zim's voot cruiser still in one piece _("How did this piece of crap survive everything?!")_. They had spent a week waiting for Zim to wake up, and once he did, the family was suddenly told they had to evacuate.

"All civilians are being assigned a secure temporary living quarters," the drone delivering the news had said. "They'll be alerted once things have been restored, but until then, they are to stay where they're told."

Zim had cut him off, declaring that ZIM was no civilian, he was a certified military trainer, but the drone just stared him down and responded, "Well, your PAK must've been more damaged then we thought, because we recieved the data that _you_ and your family are civilians."

"Well, maybe _Tak_ is, but not-"

"SILENCE! Zim, you, your smeets and your mate will be transported to the planet _Earth_ until further notice."

_Earth_. . . Clox's first home. If it weren't for the fact that their current home had to get blown up to visit it, he'd be excited. Although he knows Zim wouldn't be, no matter _what_ the circumstances were.

He inches towards his father, then pokes his arm. Zim looks up, but doesn't say anything. So Clox does, even though he's not sure it'll be help. But he just wants his dad to be okay.

"W-w-when we, uh. . . get to-to Earth. . . m'gonna make a _really,really_ big meal for us, 'kay?"

For a slight second, there's a flicker of a smile on Zim's face. He reaches down, rubs Clox on the head gently and says, "Okay."

**End of chapter three. . .**

I killed Minimoose. I bet you all hate me. They'll mourn more in the next chapter. . .

I adore Zim as a father. . . I know Sky and greenjellohead said they liked it too. When I was writing that last scene, I actually said "Aw!" out loud, cause I couldn't contain how incredibly fluffy this shtuff is. I wuvs it so. . . anyways. . .next chapter will contain:

- a crash landing

- Plix, having a breakdown XD

- a scene that was painful to write. . . which I'll point out during my next post. . .

I got stitches in my finger yesterday.Cut it on a blasted soup can. . .


	4. Return of the dooky brains

**A.n.** Thanks to my reviewers:

**greenjellohead**

**Captain Blue-hat Jack**

**TikTac** (lol, what are you talking about? XD Morphine. Whoo!)

**Suicidal RuBBerDucky**

**Zantor7**

**TripleS-18** (X3)

and dear **Missy Lynne** (that reminds me of some country folk song for whatever reason. . . )

The part I hate is in here... just cause I hate writing Dib in any romantic situation, so I really have no idea why I paired him up with Kacer. . . In lighter news, Zim acts very cute in this chapter. . . cause he gets all whiny. . .er, just in one scene. And there's some Pin an' Clox, brother-sister fluff in the flashback. . . enjoy. . .

**Chapter four- Return of the Dooky Brains**

"It's been three hours," Dib says, burying his face in his hands, "can we _please_ go now?"

"No, the guest are coming," Kacer protests, although she sounds very unconvincing, "just wait a little longer."

She pacing in front of the front door anxiously, biting her lower lip Dib rests his head on ther cushion and closes his eyes.

"Have you seen Gaz at all?" he asks.

"Hm, not in the past hour. . ."

Kacer walks to the hallway and calls, "Gaz?" but there's no answer. Dib opens one eye and watches her dissappear for a few moments; she returns, holding a small piece of paper in her hands. She offers it to Dib and says, "This was taped to her door..."

He observes the note and his eyebrows shoot up at its contents.

_To the two most annoying people on the planet:_

_I'm going clubbing. If you two insist on being disgusting with each other, stay away from my bedroom._

_Or I'll hurt you._

_Badly._

_-Gaz_

"Why couldn't she just tell us this in person?" Dib asks.

Kacer shrugs, and they both fall silent for a moment. But then Kacer smiles slyly.

"Ya know," she says, "she said to stay away from the _bedroom_. . . she never mentiones the _living_ room. . ."

Dib gets the message. **(A.n. I hate this part)** He motions for her to come to couch, and she does so, but before anything can happen** (thank God) **, they both hear something.

Screaming. Really _familiar_ screaming.

And although it's faint, they can both make out the exact words, "GIR!! FOR THE FINAL TIME, YOU ARE NOT TO SUCK OUT THE CONTENTS OF THE SHIP'S FUEL TANK WITH A BENDY STRAW AND REPLACE IT WITH YOUR LARVA MONKEYS!!"  
"No way," Dib says softly, more to himself then to Kacer, "there is no way. . ."

He trails off, grabs her hand, and swings the door open.

Surprisingly enough, a small crowd of people are standing before them, and in unison they call out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIB!!" but Dib and Kacer push past them and run down the street, as if they didn't even notice them.

The crowd looks to one another in confusion, but then one person announces that they brought the beer, and they all go inside and have a party.

* * *

"Zim, calm down," Tak says. 

He doesn't.

"NEVER!!" he declares, then points ferociously towards Gir, who's sucking on his foot. "This. . . this _THING!_ HE DRANK ALL THE VOOT CRUISER'S FUEL AND CAUSED THE WHOLE THING TO CRASH!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS _MEANS_, TAK?!"

She just shrugs.

"IT MEANS WE WILL BE STRANDED HERE EVEN LONGER THEN NECESSARY!!"

"Feh," she says, waving it off.

"_FEH?!_ You _dare_ 'feh' me?!"

"Oh, I dare."

Zim clenches his fists ragefully, and looks as though he's about to retaliate, but then his shoulders slump and he drops to his knees in defeat.

"_Taaak_," he whines, clinging to the hem of her uniform, "life _hates_ me!"

"It does not," she says, rubbing his antenna back comfortingly, "it's just. . .really mad at us right now. . ." she stops, and for the first time since the voot crashed, looks around. "God, I forgot how ugly this place was. . ."

"I find it intruiging," Plix says, stepping away from his siblings who are closely inspecting the voot cruiser. He stands beside Zim and pats his arm. "But you needn't be anxious concerning your ship; I and my siblings have agreed to collaborate in order to restore it to its normal state."

"Hey stupid!" JooJee calls over her shoulder. "It's not 'I and my siblings'! It's 'my siblings and I'!"

Plix's eyes widen in horror, and he steps back.

"Oh my Irk," he says, "she's. . .she's _right_. . .which means. . .I'm WRONG. . ."

"Here we go," Tak mutters.

"EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE!!"

Plix dashes away, screaming hysterically, flailing his arms around like a lunatic.

"JooJee," Tak says flatly, "go get your brother. Make sure he doesn't cause anything to catch fire like last time."

"_Fine_," JooJee grudgingly agress, and follows her currently insane twin.

Tak helps Zim off the ground and leads him to the voot cruiser by the hand, then leans towards the engine.

"See?" she says. "This'll be easy to repair. It might take a week at the _most_."

"Maybe even less," Pin says, emerging from the wreckage with Clox. She wipes some soot from her forehead. "If we can get Gir to clear his larva monkeys out, and if Plix can gather enough scratch materials in time, I'm guessing three days is all we'll need."

She dissappears beneath the ruins.

Clox stares at his parents for a second, then says, "Y-ya know. . .uh, I can-I can _use_ the larva monkeys in one of my r-recipes-"

"No," Tak says, "absolutely not."

Clox whimpers, then lowers into the shipwreck after his sister.

It's quiet.

Zim's looking at the ground, and Tak's looking at him.

"I know you're not okay," she says.

"I know too."

". . .I miss Minimoose."

"He was a _good_ sidekick," Zim says, casting a sideways glance to Gir, who's gone from sucking his foot to sucking Mimi's head. She's not happy about that.

"Good lethal weapon too," Tak agrees, nodding her head.

"The _best!_ Only fitting for Zim. . ."

"You didn;t say that like you usually do. . ."

"Eh?"

"You're usually all like. . ." Tak shifts her eyes unsurely, then awkwardly raises her fists, "'I am ZIM'!"

"Hey, that was pretty good."

"Thank you."

Another silence.

"Where are we going to stay?" Tak wonders aloud. Zim shrugs and she continues, "Too bad you _insisted_ on uprooting the old base. . ."

Zim waves his hand dismissively.

"I had my reasons," he says.

"CREEPY BIG HEAD!!"

Out of nowhere, JooJee comes flying through the air, slamming into Zim's head.

"It ate Plix!" she screams, latching onto his face. "It freaking _ate _him! I killed its ugly mate, but then it ATE MY BROTHER!!"  
"_JooJee!_" Tak says, both concerned and weirded out. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"There was this. . this thing! It had. . . _big_ hair. . .and a _big _head. . .and it was _ugly_!"

"Dib." This comes from Zim, who's staring ahead in disbelief.

"Geez Zim, Dib's not the _only_ ugly creature on the planet-" Tak says, not paying much attention, but then she freezes.

Several yards away from them, with Plix hanging from his hair, is Dib.

There's a long, stunned silence.

". . .do you really think I'm ugly?" Dib asks.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, STINK?!" Zim demands, jumping forward.

"What am _I_ doing here?! This is _my_ planet! And this little _thing_-" he points to JooJee, "just kicked my girlfriend in the kneecaps, and she ran off and _now_ I can't even find her!"

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE TO BE INTRUDING ON MY. . . ZIM-NESS!!"

"Gimme back my brother, you dirt hog!" JooJee shrieks, jumping from Zim's head to Dib's in rage.

"Get _off of me!_" As he struggles to detach the wrestling smeet, he turns to Zim with widened eyes, "How many more kids did you have?!. . .OH MY GOSH!!" With a free finger, he points to Zim accusingly, "YOU'RE BUILDING AN ARMY, AREN'T YOU?! I BET _THAT'S _WHY YOU'VE RETURNED, RIGHT?! Now that you have reinforcements, you're actually _ready_ to take over Earth-"

"Actually-" Tak begins, but is cut off when Zim covers her mouth and shouts, "NO!! DON'T TELL HIM _ANYTHING!!_. . .JOOJEE! PLIX! Get off the filth human at once! You'll get his germs!"

At that moment however, Pin and Clox suddenly reappear from what's left of the voot cruiser, exclaim, "DIB!!" in unison, then both run towards him. Before he can protest, Pin latches onto his left leg, whereas Clox bites his right.

"HOLY CRAP!!" Dib hollers, attempting to shake them off.

"_Good boy Clox. . ._" Zim says darkly.

"Hey Daddy!" JooJee shouts with a psychotic grin. "I can bite him _too!_"

She proves it, and Dib screams. Zim, JooJee and Clox all cackle at his expense, while Pin's yelling at them for doing so, Plix is still in the middle of a breakdown, Gir is. . . Gir, and now Tak has a headache.

"Everyone. . ._**SHUT-UP!!**"_

The scene freezes.

They all look to Tak.

She's not happy.

"_Clox, Pin, JooJee and Plix,"_ she hisses, "_get off of Dib this _instant. Clox and JooJee, apologize to him at _once_, Plix, you are to _get a grip_, and Dib, we're not here to invade Earth, we won't be here long, so _go home._"

"But-"

"NO BUTS!!"

The second her family begins to snicker, she shoots them all an icy glare and they are silenced at once.

"Zim, I want _you_ to gather any supplies left from the voot cruiser, and GIR, YOU ARE TO QUIT SUCKING ON MIMI'S HEAD. Have I made myself clear tp _everyone?_"

They all nod their heads meekly, except for Gir, whose head falls off.

"Good," Tak says coolly. "One more thing. . ." she crosses her arms, "Dib, is the Dee-lishous weenies stand still around?"

"You _are_ after the Earth, _aren't you?!_ I knew it!"

"DO NOT QUESTION ME, just answer me."

". . .it's no longer in business, but it's still standing. . . why. . .?"

"No reason," she responds. She turns to Zim with a triumphant smirk. "We just have a place to stay now, is all."

* * *

_He heard pounding at the door, but just buried his face in his pillow._

_"Clox! Open up. . .c'mon. . ."_

_"G-go away!"_

_"No. . .listen, I'm opening the door, 'kay?"_

_"I said-"_

_Too late._

_The door was open and Pin walked in the room, then plopped on the bed beside her brother._

_"Why're you so sad about this?" she asked._

_"C-cause!" Clox said. "I-I dun want a stu-stupid smeet in the-in the house! I l-like it j-just being us. . ."_

_"Are you 'fraid of being a big brother?"_

_"No!"_

_"Cause having a _little_ brother isn't bad," Pin said, "in fact, it's the best thing I could ask for, 'cept for having super powers, but Mom says that can't happen. . ."_

_"R-really?"_

_"Yeah, she said somethin' 'bout it being all 'mpossible. . ."_

_"No! About the. . .uh. . .little brother thing. . ."_

_"Oh!. . .yeah, really!" Pin smiled. "Cause my brother is _you_, after all."_

* * *

Kacer cowers in fear as Gaz casts her a deadly glower. 

"I let you have a party for my brother _in my house_ because I was in a _good_ _mood_," she growls, clenching her fists at her sides. Sinister shadows loom over her. "And _yet_ you let your _guests trash the place_ and _Dib _is nowhere to be seen. . ."

"No, uh-! I wasn't here until halfway through the party, and I _told_ them to clear out-"

"Where's Dib?"

"Er, he thinks ZIM came back, so he-"

"Out."

"Wha-?"

Gaz swings her door open and points outside.

"_Get out_."

Kacer doesn't hesitate; she runs outside as fast as she can, although her knee's in pain due to a certain psychotic smeet, and Gaz slams the door behind her.

"Guess I better start the car. . ." Kacer mutters to herself, but then pauses and groans.

Dib's car's been mutilated- the windows broken, the roof dented, etc. On the front of it, spray-painted in bright red, are the words: _Get lost TOWN RAPIST!!_

"I _really_ should've seen this coming. . ."

**end of chapter four. . .**

Well, I wanna get chapter five up by next week, but that is just not going to happen. I've had chapters one to four done since October, then took a break. So I gotta write chapter five. Hopefully in two weeks, maybe three. So hang in there, and thanks so much for reviewing guys. It really gets me motivated.

The next chapter _will_, however, have. . . an appearance of a character I'm sure many of you have either come to love or hate. An OC. Can you guess who? X3

My finger has, for the most part, healed. The stitches are out anyway.


	5. Zim is not never not smart

**A.N.** First off, I want to apologize _soooo_ badly for the long wait! I've been too busy to do _anything_, plus I've been working on original stuff, blah blah blah. . .

I'm not gonna lie; I was seriously planning to ditch this story. But then I was rereading some of your reviews, and guilt drove me to write chapter five, only guess what? I got into it. And now I know what _exactly_ is going to happen, so trust me; chapter six'll be out soon. I promise.

Thanks to reviews on the last chapter:

**Takker **(I am honored to receive a review from you! XD Thanks for making it long)

**Captain Blue-hat Jack**

**HOLYBALONEYidon'tknow**

**Rahh Gumba Foo **

**The Illustrious Crackpot **(I love long reviews!)

**Darkarise**

**DemonSurfer**

**Suicidal RuBBerDucky **(I know, it's tragic XD)

**Zantor7**

**TikTac**

My writing style has _altered_ slightly in the past two months, but it's not _that_ noticeable. I actually had to re-read the first for chapters of this story. . .wasn't pretty. So many typos. . . so badly written. . . I was in such a rut when writing that. . . blah blah. . .

As a bonus, I'm bringing back _two_ OCs that you guys already read about. . . in other stories. . .

**Chapter Five- Zim is not never not smart**

Dark and dusty; cold and smelly.

Certainly not in the condition Tak had left it years earlier. But the weenie stand's their home now, at least temporarily, so they all realize it'll have to do. JooJee, of course, finds the gloomy atmosphere to be rather inviting, so she skips happily into _Deelishous Weenies_, whereas her siblings merely drag their feet behind her. In the back of the group, are Zim and Tak. She's smirking.

With fists against her hips, she announces, "Over one hundred rooms are in this building; choose your personal quarters, but be quiet. We don't need Earth authorities discovering us."

"GOT IT!!" JooJee shouts.

Her voice echoes through out the room. Plix smacks her in the back of the head. She snarls and bites his antenna.

"Good girl, JooJee," Zim says with a proud smile.

"YOU FAVOR MY TWIN OVER ME!!" Plix exclaims with tears in his eyes.

"I do not. I just like her better." **(A.N. Zim sucks. XD)**

JooJee sticks her tongue out in triumph, and her twin sniffs sorrowfully, although no one but Pin really seems to care.

"Enough," Tak says, "go find your rooms."

The smeets, Gir and Mimi all scatter in opposite directions, kicking up dust in their parents' faces. Tak and Zim cough ferociously, eventually having to hold onto each other for support.

"Crap," Tak says, once they've stopped. Her eyes are watering.

"Crap for what?!"

"Nothing, nothing. . ."

The room's large; they're standing on a metal balcony, looming over the numerous floors. Tak stroke her finger across the railing.

Flicking dust to the side, she says, "Brings back _good_ memories, this place."

"But," Zim says, "you haven't been here since I _defeated _you!"

His fists are raised high above his head.

Tak replies, "I know. Reminds me of when I hated you."

"And _that's_ a good memory?!"

No answer.

Tak looks down; she can't even see the floor. With her spider legs attached to the railing, she cautiously lowers herself into the darkness.

"What in the name of Irk are you doing?!" Zim demands, rushing to the edge.

As nothing but silence follows, he has no choice but to go in after her. His eyes adjust to the darkness after some time, yet he can just _barely_ make out Tak's figure beside him.

"You can use the _stairs_, you know," he says.

"Do I?"

"Do you?!"

She grabs his arm, and he's quiet.

"Look," she whispers, pointing to something glowing faintly on the wall below them. "I didn't expect _that_ to still be here."

"What is it?"

"It's an indication chip, a small device that signals a predetermined source with a recorded message from the owner-"

"I knew that!" Zim snaps defensively.

"Then why'd you ask?!"

"You're lying!"

"Idiot. . ."

"Zim is not!"

"Zim is not never not smart."

". . .heh?"

"Oh, forget it. . ."

Silence, then, "So. . .why's there an indigestian-"

"Indication."

"-an indication chip on the wall, anyways?"

"Years ago, before you sabotaged my plan to steal your mission, the Tallest were _supposed_ to receive a message from me, informing them of my victory; the success of the pump was supposed to activate it, only"

"I _destroyed it!"_ Z's cackles horribly.

"No," Tak says, with traceable annoyance, "Dib just hit the stupid 'off' button." Then she smirks. "But you _know_. . .I _could_ always press the 'on' button. . ."

". . .you wouldn't."

"I might. The second they tell us to come back home, I'd _love_ to leave this place in ruins. . ."

"But you'd be killing your precious _dirt_ monster, Keeshy. . ."

Tak's eyes widen.

"_Kacer_? She's around? Do humans live that long?" she asks.

"Dib's still alive," Zim reminds her, although his eyes twitches as he does so.

"Oh yeah. . ."

"**_MOMMY!!_**"

The sudden scream of Pin is so startling, Tak and Zim nearly fall; yet they catch themselves, and make their way to the top ledge as quickly as possible. Their daughter runs to them with tears in her eyes, her siblings trailing behind her frantically.

"What is it?!" Tak demands. "A human?!"

Pin buries her face into the hem of her mother's uniform and shakes her head.

"A scary lady. . ." she says.

"S-sh-she says. . . uh," Clox begins, "sh-she wants to see D-Dad. . ."

"She was ugly," JooJee says.

"I disagree, sister," Plix says, "I found her to be quite attractive."

"You _would_, you _queer!_"

"Hold it!" Tak shouts. ". . .who's attractive?"

From beside her, Zim suddenly finds himself frozen, his mouth gaping open in horror, the only audible sound being a shaky, "_Bwaaah. . ._"

"Zim, what the hell is wrong with you-?"

"Oh, _Takky!_"

'Takky' is suddenly tackled by an unseen force, without warning. She's in somewhat of a confused shock, however, once on the ground, she realizes. . .

"_Pleecy?_"

Her former roommate; Zim former romantic stalker. Pleecy, of all Irkens, wearing an Irken Police uniform of all things, is currently on top of Tak, who's surrounded by four concerned smeets and one petrified mate. And then Pleecy embraces Tak tightly -perhaps a little _too_ tightly- and she just barely manages to ask, "What are you _doing_ here?"

Pleecy giggles for a moment, almost as though she didn't hear the question, until JooJee jumps and smacks her upside the head.

"I'm here on official business," she says seriously. She stands, firm and tall, then turns.

The concerned smeets stop being so concerned, however; even when serious, they can gather that this Irken is simply a moron. Yet when she speaks to their father, their insides drop, suddenly viewing her as the most vile creature in the entire galaxy. She points to him, and he blinks once. Tensely, the rest wait for her to speak. . .

"Um, Zim. . .by order of the Tallest. . .you're like, under arrest."

* * *

_"FIRE!! FIIIRE!!" _

_Zim and Tak jumped and looked to Gir, who was wearing an insane smile, so for a moment, neither reacted seriously. That is, until they smelled smoke. They sprung up and ran into the kitchen, where there was indeed a fire. And in the middle of it was JooJee and Pin; Pin sputtering nonsense in a panic, JooJee sputtering nonsense in amusement._

_Behind their parents, Plix and Clox ran in, Clox looking ready to kill someone._

_"JOOJEE, YOU STUPID!!" he shouted. "Y-YOU!! WHAT DID YOU DO T-TO MY KITCHEN?!!"_

_"What makes ya think it was _my _fault?!"  
"Because it always is," Plix commented calmly._

_"Quick Gir!!" Zim shouted to the small android. "Go retrieve the fire extinguisher goo!"_

_"Um," Gir replied, suddenly skittish, carefully avoiding his master's eye, "I can't. . ."_

_"Heh? Why _Not_?!"  
". . .ate it. . ."_

_"WHAT?!"_

_"I ate the GOOOOOOO!!!" Gir's eyes welled up and he looked almost _remorseful_; but then in the next instant, he snorted, erupted into mad giggles, then promptly exploded._

_"Great!" Zim spat. "Now I have to fix him _again_!"_

_"ZIM! GO ACTIVATE THE SPRINKLER SYSTEM!!" Tak ordered, bringing his attention back to the fire. As he rushed from the room, Tak turned to her daughters. "JooJee, Pin!! Get out of the freaking kitchen!!"_

_"Um, mom, there's _kinda_ something in the way!" Pin retorted hysterically._

_"_SPRINKLER SYSTEM ACTIVATED_," boomed the voice of the home computer overhead, and at that moment, sprinklers emerged from the ceiling, fully functional. _

_The fire was out._

_And everyone and most of the rooms were covered in fire extinguisher goo, with the exception of Zim, who had activated the sprinklers in the safety of his underground lab. He had just entered the kitchen, took one look around and said, "Yikes."_

_"Yeah," Tak said with a grimace, wiping goo from her eyes, "yikes."_

_"Couldn't you have actuated the sprinklers in the kitchen _only_?" Plix asked his father._

_"Oh. . . you can do that. . .?"_

* * *

"It's all your fault, you realize."

Kacer sighs and says, "Yeah, I know."

Dib scowls and continues, "And now we don't even have a place to stay. Do you realize it'll take a _week_ to reapair the stupid car? Do you realize how much it'll _cost_?"

"Well, your dad's rich-"

"That's not the point- _hey!_"

In the past hour since they've been sitting on the side of the road, Dib's been the target of various soda cans, bricks, and metal pans, all thrown by frustrated townspeople who were thoroughly convinced Dib was a-

"_Rapist_," a fat woman mutters contemptly. She picks up the soda can she has recently chucked at the boy's head, and chugs it down in nothing flat, then throws the empty can at him once more.

"Listen," Dib says, trying his best to ignore her, "I think we should- _ow_-" a shoe "-find a temporary- _OW!_-" a box of legos- "place to stay- _NYA!!_ CUT IT OUT!!"

A group of people surround the couple, each bearing some sort of weapon. Yet Kacer stands her ground, and says, "Townspeople! Geez, um. . .Dib's not really a rapist. I, uh. . .lied."

Silence, until one man shrieks, "I BET HE _FORCED_ YOU TO SAY THAT!! CAUSE THAT'S JUST WHAT RAPISTS _DO!!_"

Neither can fight it anymore; they just run down the street, with the mob close behind, and yet, Dib's mind is suddenly on something other than the crazed townspeople. Down the street, his eyes are fixed on one building alone.

The _Deelishous Weenies_ stand has never looked more beautiful.

* * *

_Treason against the empire._

_Zim is to be trialed for treason against the empire._

_He had deliberately activated the moose's doomsday at the Snacking Carnival. He's an enemy against the Irken empire._

_By order of the Tallest. . ._

_By order, Zim is under arrest. . . _

_Arrested for treason. . ._

"DAMMIT!!"

The most Tak can do is stare at the open roof where Pleecy just took her mate away, all she can do is shake her fist and swear. Her children crowd around her, unsure of what to do. Pin's crying. Clox is shivering.

Gir's behind them, dancing wildly, oblivious to the family's crisis. Mimi attempts to take him out with her built-in doomcanon, but just ends up dancing as well.

"Dammit, Zim didn't DO anything!"

Tak kicks the wall, fed up. She can't go after him. No matter what, she can't. . . unless. . . She whips around furiously, her eyes flashing. The children cower.

"_Well?!_" she shouts. ""What the bloody hell are you doing just standing there?! Get as many supplies as you can -Report to the voot cruiser- we're going to fix it, dammit!"  
They have no choice but to listen; as they do so, Tak activates her wrist communicator, intending to call Zim, but then thinks better of it; he might get in trouble. So instead, she contacts an old friend. From the fuzzy screen, she can hardly see his face, but it's _him_.

She think he's smiling as her says, "Tak? Hey it's been awhile, hasn't it-"

"Joon." She's not in the mood to smile. "Joon, listen, you _need_ to come to Earth _now-_"

"Tak, I'm kinda needed on the Massive-"

"NOW!!" She's shaking, fully aware she's about to get _really_ emotional, but she doesn't care. She'd like nothing more than to tear Pleecy limb from limb. "I need someone to watch my kids, they've arrested Zim, I _need_ to go after him-"

"Holy shit, Tak, calm down." He sounds utterly confused. "Listen, if he was arrested, there's not much you can _do_. If you interfere, you _could_ get it worse than him-"

"_You know what?! Screw you, Joon!_ I call to get some _bloody_ help from a _bloody_ friend, but if you're willing to act like a total _jackass_, then I'll just _leave my kids to the Earth beats to _die_ while I'm gone, is that good enough for you?!"_

". . . you're psychotic."

"I know! SHUT UP!"

There's a short silence as Tak turns to her smeets, who appear traumatized.

"_Get back to work!_" she orders.

"Maybe you shouldn't yell," Joon says.

"_Joon_. . . I just. . . RAWR!"

"Why don't you explain you crisis to me. . .uh, sanely?"

"_Nothing_, I _can't_, Pleecy came and said-"

"_Pleecy_ was there?" Joon's eyes bug out slightly.

"Yeah, why? She doesn't stalk you anymore, does she?"

"Actually, she's my-"

Whatever he says next can't be heard; a strange ringing echoes through the room loudly. It takes Tak a moment to realize it's some sort of. . .

"Doorbell!" Pin says cheerfully, skipping down the stairs.

Tak turns the communicator, and follows close behind.

"Pin," she says, "don't open the door without your disguise-"

Too late.

It's wide open for he world to lock inside, but only two people do. They're flushed and panting heavily, but the girl still smiles warmly, happy to see her old friend.

"Hey Tak," Kacer says, "can me and Dib crash here for a few days?"

**end of chapter five. . .**

So. . . um. . . next chapter. . .?

I can't tell you! Cause it's a surprise! But. . . there'll be. . . a surprise. . . yeah. . . um. . . Zim'll be in it!

That's all I can tell you. Mwahaha!!

Reviews please! They keep me writing. . . seriously, I'm that sad.


	6. Old Faces

A.N. Once upon a time, there was a silly 16-year-old who loved Invader Zim so much, she wrote endless ZATR fanfiction and posted them online. Life eventually got in the way, and she stopped.

Then, over three years later, she decided she wanted to at least finish up her one unfinished fic in her series, so now she's going at it.

In other words, yes, an update. For all who reviewed these past few years, thanks a lot for your feedback. Hopefully some of you will return for this chapter.

There are some differences in the writing, as I am older and such, and also, I have opted to stop doing the flashback scenes that I put in previous chapters, simply because it distracted from the main story, and I was running out of ideas on that end.

Slaytians are a made-up race that were first shown in my first fic, "Emotion Sickness." I don't expect many people to remember that.

This chapter's incredibly uneventful, but it's setting up future happenings and all. Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 6- Old Faces

Zim's butt hurts.

Well, actually, Zim's whole body hurts; after getting thrown into his cell carelessly (yet forcefully) by Pleecy, and slamming against the metal bars, every inch of him aches. And after enduring hours alone in Pleecy's police pod with nothing else to listen to but her incessant, cheerful chatter, his brain aches as well.

But right now, his butt hurts the most, as he's been sitting on it in his cramped cell for awhile now. He shifts his body uncomfortably, so he's facing the hundreds of neighboring cells in the prison.

When he had first arrived, being escorted by Pleecy and two Irken guards, all the prisoners had been observing him with great interest; with disgust even, as he couldn't help but notice the cells seemed to be occupied by every other race in the galaxy except his own. But now, not a single creature is looking at him.

In fact, no one seems to be moving or making a sound; it's only when the Irken prison guards exit the area, with a pair of large doors closing behind them, do the prisoners begin to make noise.

As the volume of the various chatter, complaints or snide remarks increases, Zim can barely make out the direction where an unfamiliar voice snaps, "You there! Irken!"

It's male, with a similar accent to Tak's; but as Zim glances around frantically, he can't make out its source. It could be anyone.

"Ewuh? Who? _ME?" _Zim asks in a grand voice, though he can't cover up how perplexed he is.

As he continues to determine who spoke to him, the voice continues, "Yes, _you!_ Now, look over here! No, the other direction-no! To your left! Your other left! Why are you looking up, I told you-"

Finally, Zim's eyes rest on an irritated looking Vortian, stationed several cells away; once they make eye contact, the Vortian waves his arms, and shouts, "Yes! You've got it!"

"I've got what?"

"Oh, never mind! Just . . ." The Vortian trails off, his eyes darting back and forth suspiciously before proceeding in a stage whisper, "What do you say to aiding one another-"

"AIDS?" Zim shouts, his exclamation ringing out over the other prisoners' voices. A number of them glare at him, while others simply shake their heads in disapproval.

"No!" The Vortian snaps, still in a stage whisper, his patience clearly running out. "We can assist one another in order to break out of here!"

"Ha! As if I'd need _your _assistance, Vortian slime!" Zim proclaims smugly. "I've already devised an _ingenious_ scheme to get out of here on my own!

He's lying.

The guards forgot to remove his handcuffs before, so he's spent the last hour and a half trying to do it himself. By gnawing on it. It didn't work.

So in the meantime, he's spent no time scheming anything.

The Vortian releases an exasperated sigh, but replies as pleasantly as possible, "Oh, I'm sure it's a grand scheme and all, but you might need back up-"

"NEVER!"

"Forget it, Lard Nar," another voice chimes in; this time, it's from one of the cells between Zim and the Vortian. Female. A Slaytian. "No use reasoning with him. He's still _Irken."_

"EXACTLY!" Zim and the Vortian shout in unison.

And before Zim has any time to go on with some nonsense about how Irkens are above working with inferior races, the Vortian (presumably Lard Nar) begins to explain in a lively voice, "Their PAKs can't be deactivated unless they're found guilty during their trial!"

"So . . .?" the Slaytian female remarks. Zim can't help but notice an enormous scar across her forehead.

If this is who he thinks it is, then he hopes she doesn't remember him. He nervously avoids making eye contact.

"So!" Lard Nar continues. "In the meantime, they still have their fancy . . . doo hickeys . . . inside their PAKs! The rest of us had all our personal items stripped away, but I'm sure if we're resourceful enough, he can USE one his doo hickeys to break us out!"

"Brilliant," the Slaytian mutters sarcastically, crossing her arms and leaning against her cell.

Zim turns his back on them, mostly because the Slaytian keeps glancing at him suspiciously.

"So what do you _say_, Irken?" Lard Nar calls out.

"_My doo hickeys are mine alone!"_

Zim attempts to raise a defiant fist in the air with the statement, but the handcuffs prevent him from doing so. He just hits himself in the head on accident.

* * *

Dib wakes up from his nap in a frenzy.

"_Dammit!_ Kacer!" His voice echoes around the room, and at first, he doesn't hear a response.

Then, faintly, "Dib? Are you awake?" travels through to his ears.

Jolting up from the ground, Dib races along the curb of the metal balcony towards the direction of Kacer's voice, shouting along the way, "Kacer! Finals! I totally forgot we're going to miss them-"

He screeches to a halt as he approaches his girlfriend, who's kneeling beside the four smeets in a dimly-lit corner.

"Salutations!" Plix greets him pleasantly.

Dib pays no mind to the greeting, and JooJee pushes her twin to the ground as she runs to Dib, teeth bared. Dib, now used to JooJee harming him every time he enters a room, lifts his boot up so the tiny smeet slams into that. She falls backwards, shakes it off, and runs into his boot again. Over and over.

Dib, struggling to keep balance on one foot, looks back to Kacer purposefully.

"What were you saying?" Kacer asks, her eyes fixed more on JooJee than her boyfriend.

Dib inhales sharply, before explaining, "It'll take a week for the car to get fixed-"

"We went over this-"

"_Let me finish! _It'll take a week, but finals _start _this week. We need to leave on bus or train or _something _to get back-"

"_Dib!"_ Kacer glances at all the smeets, then says in a dramatic whisper, "We can't leave the _children!"_

"Well-fine, we can bring them-"

"Tak _said _to stay here."

"Who knows when she'll be back!"

"It can't be that long, she left hours ago."

"Kacer, she's traveling into _space_. Space is BIG. It may take longer than a few hours."

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid! I hate it when you do that!"

"Then don't say stupid things!"

JooJee slams into Dib's boot a final time, and he loses balance. Falling back against the ground, Dib's eye catches something strange. Ignoring JooJee and Clox's laughter, he stands up and leans over the balcony's railing. Below him, it's pitch black, aside from a faint, faint glow along the side.

"What's a'matter, Dib?" Pin asks, abandoning a scowling Kacer to stand beside him.

More to himself than the smeet, Dib answers, "_What _is _that?"_

"Perhaps we should inspect it at a closer range to determine the nature of the glow?" Plix suggests with a smile as he joins them.

"Dib," Kacer protests, "don't go down there, it could be dangerous, you know?"

But Dib just grins at Plix and Pin, and without even acknowledging Kacer, climbs over the balcony.

A part of it's his curious nature, and another part is the duty he feels as a paranormal investigator to . . . well, investigate. But a small part of it's also that he wants to piss off Kacer, as much as he can.

It works.

* * *

Tak hasn't even arrived at her destination and her plan's already ruined. Not that she had much of a plan anyway.

But Gir, who should've been left on Earth, jumped into the voot cruiser last minute, and after a sequence of Tak screaming at him, and Gir simply dancing destructively in response, Mimi is somehow in pieces, Gir is asleep, and the voot cruiser is just barely running.

Then again, the voot cruiser had barely been running before Gir's dancing (thank you, speedy repair job done by children).

As the small ship jerks along unreliably, Tak turns on her wrist communicator, and contacts Joon. For the fifth time in the past hour.

"I _told _you, Tak," Joon snaps, his voice muffled and tinny through the speakers, "if you keep calling me, I'll have no choice but to inform the Tallest of your actions."

"But I haven't done anything yet!"

"But if you're planning on it, and I do nothing to stop you, that's . . . that's just as bad as being your accomplice! We'll _both _be in deep shit!"

Tak's arms fly in the air as she grunts in frustration.

"_Gah_, Joon, just . . . I'm sorry for dragging you into this, okay?"

"Thank you. Now can I-"

"But I'm going to do this anyway."

"Dammit, Tak! . . . Fine, do it! But stop _telling _me!"

"But I need your help!"

"I-CAN'T-HELP-YOU."

The voot cruiser jerks suddenly and Tak moves with it, slamming headfirst into the control panel. Wincing in pain, she rubs her head, and attempts to reason with Joon in a much softer tone.

"Joon . . . you know-" Tak pauses to release a heavy sigh, "You know Steg?"

"Um, yeah kid, he was my brother."

"Well . . . you know how I, uh . . . loved him?"

Joon sighs as well and replies, "Yeah . . ."

"Well, Zim . . . he's stupider than Steg. And shorter. And-and . . .just a total idiot, but . . . I mean, I still wish Steg were alive, but . . . Zim . . .he's as important as Steg was. More important. So . . . I just . . . I need your help. Please."

Silence follows.

Tak blinks some tears away (thankful that the fuzzy picture on the wrist communicators prevent Joon from seeing her cry), then glances to Gir, who's begun to snore obnoxiously. She didn't know robots could even snore in the first place.

Finally, Joon sighs again and says, "Fine. What do you need me for?"

Instantly brightening up, Tak begins listing things off quickly, "I need information of the prison's security system, and to download some holographic disguises, preferably of a police officer or a prison guard, in which case I'll need an existing ID number to get in, and some references for the holograms. Also, if you could find the schedules they keep the prisoners on, and-Oh! Even better, if you could find out which _area_ of the prison Zim's cell is located, I'll waste less time trying to find it . . . and then maybe get the time for Zim's trial."

"Why can't you just see how he does in the trial?"

"You _know _he'll be found guilty."

"Right. Whatever."

"So can you do all that."

"Yeah. Sure. I'll try."

"You're the best, Joon."

As Tak's about to turn off the communicator, her friend adds, "Oh , uh . . .if you ever see Pleecy, just don't . . .tell her I helped you, okay?"

"Why would she care?"

"She's kind of . . . um. Just don't. Okay?"

And with that, the transmission's cut.

End of Chapter 6 . . .

* * *

Dib freaking out about finals wouldn't have happened if I had written this part in high school. Because finals were not important to me back then. Haha.

And I'm excited to explore the Lard Nar/Zim interaction. It's fun. Lard Nar's excuse for needing Zim's help was kind of lame, but eh, I needed something. I wanted them to talk.

Anyway, there's a vague idea bouncing around in my brain as to where this story is heading, but it's just vague, so . . . yeah.

I'm not guaranteeing the next chapter will be written anytime soon, as school is starting up again, but hey. There's still some summer left, and then a very long winter break. So, who knows?

See you in three years! (Just kidding) . . . (I hope.)

You can review, but you don't have to.


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